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Anthropology is particularly well suited to explore the contemporary predicament in the coming of age of young men. Its grounded and comparative empiricism provides the opportunity to move beyond statistics, moral panics, or gender stereotypes in order to explore specific aspects of life course transitions, as well as the similar or divergent barriers or opportunities that young men in different parts of the world face. Yet, effective contextualization and comparison cannot be achieved by looking at male youths in isolation. This volume undertakes to contextualize male youths’ circumstances and to learn about their lives, perspectives, and actions, and in turn illuminates the larger structures and processes that mediate the experiences entailed in becoming young men. The situation of male youths provides an important vantage point from which to consider broader social transformations and continuities. By paying careful attention to these contexts, we achieve a better understanding of the current influences encountered and acted upon by young people.
“The editors have compiled interesting and relevant accounts that challenge us to think beyond received ideas on gender or race and illustrate the complex realities of subjects ranging from violence to education. Critical reflections on notions such as risk or success and failure find resonance throughout various contributions in this volume and are thought-provoking. The innovative approaches proposed by the contributors as well as the thorough, well-illustrated discussions greatly enhance our understanding of young men’s lives, and will certainly inspire and be of interest to many.” · Social Analysis
“This volume provides important ethnography on an understudied phase of men’s lives - youth –while also engaging in critical conversation with prior work that has exceptionalized young men’ s experiences. By analysing these experiences in a political-economic context, this book provides a timely addition to conversations between masculinity studies and youth studies, undermining simplistic attributions of young men’s problems to ‘youth culture’or masculinity. A major strength of this volume is its cross-cultural scope. In addition to providing a broad view of how young men respond to shared global pressures in different local settings, the volume as a whole presents interesting similarities and differences between ethnographic cases.” · JRAI
“Because of this comparative cross-cultural approach, readers will attain a greater understanding of the structural and cultural challenges young men face as they negotiate the transition to male adulthood.” · Choice
“Knowledgeably compiled, [with an informed and informative introduction], and deftly edited by the team of Vered Amit and Noel Dyck, [this volume] is a 346-page compendium of studies and reports on contemporary issues facing young men 'coming of age' in various and diverse parts of the world…An impressive and seminal body of work, Young Men In Uncertain Times is strongly recommended for professional and academic library Social Anthropology reference collections in general, and Male Gender Studies supplemental reading lists in particular.” · Midwest Book Review
“[A] very well written, timely and scholarly collection on young men in changing times, in the context of a global perspective, written by notable scholars in the field…[It] has a very lively and contemporary feel, which connects both to key theoretical debates around youth and also to everyday experience mediated through difference, e.g., class and ethnicity, or in terms of gender relations. It is written in an accessible and engaging style but also written so that it does justice to the complexity of the ideas presented.” · Victoria Robinson, University of Sheffield
“The strengths of this book are multiple and quite obvious. The book gathers together an inter-disciplinary group of accomplished scholars around a clearly focused and crucially important topic. Careful editing has ensured a generally high quality of writing. There are no poor chapters in this volume. The global scope of the book, its reference to recent field research, and intelligent discussion of wider literature makes it stand out.” · Craig Jeffry, St. John’s College, Oxford
Vered Amit is a Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University. Her research has focused on a range of circumstances and locales including intra and interethnic boundaries among Armenians in London; youth cultures; ethnic lobbying; expatriacy in the Cayman Islands; transnational consultants and international student travel. She is the author or editor of ten books.
Introduction. Pursuing Respectable Adulthood: Social Reproduction in Times of Uncertainty.
Vered Amit and Noel Dyck
PART I: JUST TRYING TO FIT IN
Chapter 1. ‘Shining’ in Public: Masculine Assertion and Anxiety in Globalizing Kerala.
Ritty A. Lukose
Chapter 2. “There will be a lot of old young men going home”: Combat and Becoming a Man in Afghanistan.
Anne Irwin
Chapter 3. Institutionalizing an Extended Youth Phase in Chinese Society: Social Class and Sex Differences in the Pursuit of the Personal and the Pragmatic.
William Jankowiak, Robert Moore, and Tianshu Pan
PART II: MAKING DO IN CHANGING TIMES
Chapter 4. Young Men’s Struggles for Adulthood in Urban Ethiopia: Unemployment, Masculinity, and Migration.
Daniel Mains
Chapter 5. Gendered Modernities and Traditions: Masculinity and Nationalism in the Society Islands.
Deborah A. Elliston
Chapter 6. Good Hearts or Big Bellies: Dzmak’atsoba and Images of Masculinity in the Republic of Georgia.
Martin Demant Frederiksen
Chapter 7. Being ‘Made’ Through Conflict: Masculine Hardening in Northern Ireland.
Rosellen Roche
PART III: DEALING WITH BEING 'TROUBLE'
Chapter 8. Young Men, Trouble, and the Law: A French Case.
Susan J. Terrio
Chapter 9. Incarcerable Subjects: Working-Class Black and Latino Male Youths in Two California Cities.
Victor M. Rios and Cesar Rodriguez
Chapter 10. Managing Urban Disorder? ‘The Street’ and its Malcontents in the London Borough of Camden.
Gary Armstrong and James Rosbrook-Thompson
Chapter 11. Big Man System, Short Life Culture: Working-Class Boys and Street Violence in Southeast London.
Gillian Evans
Notes on Contributors